Houston, Kansas City offer guide to MLS success

Local roots, player involvement help midtier clubs connect

SamMamudi

Houston Dynamo forward Brian Ching battles for the ball in a match with the L.A. Galaxy.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — There are different ways to build a fan base, especially for a young league seeking a foothold in a crowded sports landscape.

Take Major League Soccer: Some of its big-city teams have signed international superstars to gain attention and lure fans. But in less glamorous locales — midsized media markets and cities lacking a local soccer tradition — attracting and paying for top talent isn’t an option.

MLS ended its last season with higher average crowds than the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League and this year starts a new television deal with NBC Sports.

For those clubs, it’s all about getting into the community, establishing local relationships and building through the player draft. It’s an approach used by at least two teams in midtier media markets in the middle of the country — and, topped off with new stadiums, it’s helped Sporting Kansas City and the Houston Dynamo establish themselves in their markets.

Ahead of Major League Soccer’s season kickoff this weekend, both teams are enjoying off-field success after finishing in the top two spots in the Eastern Conference in 2011.

How the Dynamo and Sporting KC achieve success can be a bellwether for MLS. The league ended its last season with higher average crowds than the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League and this year starts a new television deal with NBC Sports. The Montreal Impact will join as the league’s 19th team.

As it continues its steady growth, MLS is likely to bring in more cities along the lines of a Houston or a Kansas City — Orlando is in contention, though the current focus is a team in New York City — and successful teams in second-tier markets and cities without long soccer histories can offer a road map for new entrants.

For both the Dynamo and Sporting KC, engaging with fans on a level not usually seen by big-league teams has been the key.

“We realized that we couldn’t outspend the local big-league teams when it comes to marketing,” said Steven Powell, senior vice president of business development at the Dynamo, which is starting its seventh season in Houston after moving from San Jose.

Realizing, too, that its fans were likely to be from a range of cultural backgrounds, Powell said the Dynamo focused on supporting and advertising at international festivals and parades in the Houston area, as well as with groups such as the Houston chapter of the British-American Business Council. The club also made sure it had a presence at local amateur soccer tournaments.

Even playing at a 70-year-old stadium in a far-from-ideal location, the Dynamo — MLS champions in 2006 and 2007 and finalists in 2011 — ranked ninth in attendance in the 18-team MLS last year. With a new stadium this season, ticket sales suggest bigger crowds ahead. Powell said roughly 40% of those coming to games are Latino, while 49% are in the 18-to-34 age group coveted by advertisers.

Sporting KC, previously known as the Kansas City Wizards, took longer to find the right strategy, despite winning the MLS Cup in 2000. One of the league’s founding members, by mid-decade the team’s front office “had no clear sense of who it was pitching to,” said Rob Thomson, vice president of communications.

Getty Images

Aurelien Collin of Sporting Kansas City (in blue) during the Eastern Conference Semifinals in October 2011.

New ownership in late 2006 brought a new approach. As well as different uniforms — and eventually a new name in 2010 — the strategy was of more transparency and direct engagement with fans.

Players are encouraged to use Twitter, said Thomson, so much so that Dom Dwyer, the club’s first-round pick in this year’s MLS SuperDraft, had his account opened moments after he was selected; Dwyer was conducting a question-and-answer session with fans soon after. Thomson said about 80% of the squad have Twitter accounts.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use.
Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. Intraday data
delayed per exchange requirements. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM) from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All quotes are in local exchange time. Real time last sale data provided by NASDAQ. More
information on NASDAQ traded symbols and their current financial status. Intraday
data delayed 15 minutes for Nasdaq, and 20 minutes for other exchanges. S&P/Dow Jones Indices (SM)
from Dow Jones & Company, Inc. SEHK intraday data is provided by SIX Financial Information and is
at least 60-minutes delayed. All quotes are in local exchange time.